At a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No.4, Dominic Thiem should be entering the Nitto ATP Finals brimming with confidence.
However, that hasn’t been the case for the young Austrian over the last few months. After a stellar string of mid-season results on clay courts, including the title at the ATP 500 event in Rio and deep runs at Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, Thiem’s season became a story of almosts. Tight losses during the summer hard court season culminated in a US Open heartbreaker to Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round and he struggled to gather momentum heading into London for the season’s finale.
“I think the results [appeared] maybe worse than [they actually were], especially in the American summer; I had so many chances to make it better,” said Thiem of his season. “Of course, the loss in the US Open was painful and I think it took a while for me to get over it, but now I am definitely ready for London even though it’s going to be a very tough tournament for me.
“I’m not really tired,” he added when asked about his 2017 schedule in comparison to the season prior. “Last year I was for sure but this year it’s way better and I had some good time off and some good practice after [Rolex Paris Masters]. I’m feeling fresh and ready.”
The 23 year old will need to be as fresh as possible given the competition he faces in Group Pete Sampras. Drawn alongside Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin and Rafael Nadal, Thiem will be familiar with each of these players having played them each at least twice this season.
Despite losing to Dimitrov in the first tournament of 2017, Thiem got revenge over the Bulgarian in Madrid, saving match points en route to a tightly contested 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(9) win.
“[Dimitrov] deserves 100% to be here, and I’m looking forward to open the tournament against him,” said Thiem. “We had two very, very good matches this year and hopefully it’s going to be a third one on Monday.”
Both Goffin and Nadal were major roadblocks in the Austrian’s season, with Goffin stopping Thiem at the Australian Open and the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, and Nadal being the sole player to earn more points on clay than Thiem.
“I think it’s very deserved that he qualified,” he said of Goffin. “He was really unlucky at Roland Garros to get his injury and he was on a good way before to qualify ... Then with a very strong finish [to] the season, he really deserves to be here and obviously I’m happy to have him here.”
On Nadal, Thiem acknowledges that it’s a different challenge playing him off of both their beloved clay courts: “I’m looking forward to playing him for the first time not on clay. I think it will be nice for everybody to play him not on his best surface. It’s different for him as well to play not on clay ... I cannot take too much from the matches we had in the spring.
“It’s very different this year, I qualified as the fourth player so I’m not the last one anymore. It feels better, that I can enjoy it this year and hope I can play [even better] than I did last year.”